$1.1 Million Awarded To Neighborhood Project

$1.1 Million To Help City Neighborhood

A national foundation is giving the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving a $1.1 million grant over three years to improve conditions in the Upper Albany neighborhood in Hartford.

Alan E. Green, assistant director of the Hartford foundation, said Monday that the Ford Foundation of New York City is giving the grant to Hartford as well as Detroit, Memphis and Milwaukee.

Green said this grant should attract additional grants from his foundation as well as from other organizations. He also said he hopes the improvements in Upper Albany will serve as a model for new programs for other ailing neighborhoods in Hartford.

"We're in it for the long term," Green said Monday. "We realize the Ford Foundation and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving aren't going to address the problems alone in the long term, but hopefully we will be able to attract and leverage additional resources to address the needs."

Green said that his foundation in 1990 received $125,000 to do a study of the crucial needs of the neighborhood that must be addressed. This plan will help identify what kinds of programs -- whether they exist or not -- are necessary to address the problems, he said.

The Upper Albany neighborhood is bounded by Garden Street on the east, Greenfield Street on the north, Homestead Avenue on the south, and Westbourne Parkway on the west.

He said such community leaders as Ruthie Mathews, president of the Hartford Board of Education; Esther Bush, president of the Urban League of Greater Hartford; businessman George Scott; and residents Marion Garret and Dorothy Curtis helped develop the report.

The group has identified three areas of need: public education, employment and homeownership.

In public education, the group wants to encourage basic skills for students, critical thinking, an increase in parental involvement, and better responses to the needs of the students.

Employment problems that must be addressed are the need to increase the labor force's academic and vocational skills, opportunities for workers, and entrepreneurial and home-based

businesses.

In homeownership, the plan recommends setting up innovative methods to help first-time homebuyers; establishing new homeownership plans, such as cooperative ownership; and supporting existing owners, such as establishing an Upper Albany Homeownership Association.

Ralph Knighton, executive director of the North Hartford Development Corporation and chairman of the foundation's study collaborative, said, "We are excited about the synergy this initiative generated in bringing together neighborhood residents and organizations with public- and private-sector leadership."

Green said, "The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has a long history of supporting neighborhood organizations and programs. We view this initiative as a logical extension of our neighborhood development grant making. Although we have targeted this particular neighborhood for this initiative, we will continue to support the work of the many fine neighborhood organizations and associations throughout Hartford."

Green said he is particularly enthusiastic about the program because all segments of the neighborhood have been involved in the planning.

"It's one of the most exciting programs we've been involved in and we're particularly proud because of its bottoms-up approach to addressing the community needs," Green said.